Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-10-28
ALLAN QUARTERNAIp.
Oh
A BROWNING CITY

And no4y comes question which | find
some difficulty in answering. Are the Zu-
yendi a civilized or barbarous people?
Sometimes / think the one, sometimes the
ether. In some branches of art they have
attained the very highest proficiency.
Take, for instance, their buildings and
their statuary / do not think that the
latter can be equaled either in beauty or
imaginative power anywhere in the world;
and as for the former, it may have been
rivaled in ancient Egypt, but | am sure
that il never has been since. But, on the
other hand, they arc totally ignorant OF
many other arts. Till Sir Henry, who hap
pened to know something about 1t, showed
them how 20 do it by mixing silica and
lime they could not make piece of glass;
and their crockery is rather primitive. A
water-clock is their nearest approach to a
watch; indeed, ours delighted them ex-
ceedingly. They know nothing about
steam, electricity, or gunpowder, and,
Incrcifully for themselves, nothing about
printing or the penny post. Thus they arc
spared many evils; for of n truth our age
has learnt the wisdom of the old saying.
'Iie who increaseth knowledge increaseth
sorrow"
AS regards their religion, it IS a natural
one for imaginative people who know no
better, and might therefore be expected to
turn 10 the sun and worship him as the all
Father; but It cannot justly be called ele-
waiting or spiritual II is true that they do
sometimes speak of the sun as the gar
mcnt Of the Spirit" but it is vague term,
and what they really adore is the fiery orb
himself They also call him the hope OF
etnrnitv:" but here again the meaning il
vague, and doubt il the phrase conveys
any very clear impression to their minds
some OF them do indeed behave in future
life for the good Know that NylcpthG
does firmly--but It il private faith aris-
ing from the prompting OF the spirit, moi
an essential OF their crecd. So on tho
whole / cannot say that / consider this
sun-w0rship as q religion indicative of 4
civilized people, however magnificent and
imposing its ritual, or however moral and
Eigh-sOunding tho maxims Of its priests
many of whom, | am sure, have their OWL
opinions on the whole subject; though OF
course they have nothing but praise Tor {
system which provides them with so many
of The good things Of this world.
There are now only two more matters 4
which need aIlude; namely, the language
and the system Of cali2raphy. AS for the
former, IL Is soft sounding, and very rel
and flexible Sir Henry says that itSounds
something like modern Crock, hut ot
course 1t has no connection with It. 1t /.
casy to acquire, being simple in It's con
s5ruction, and peculiar quality about il
is Us oEphony, md the way in which the
sound Of the words adapts itself 10 TIE
incoming 10 be expressed. Long before We
mastered the language, we could frequent
i, make out what was meant by the ring
IF th~ sentence. 1t is ON this account that
Inc language lends itself SO well to poeti
c4i defamation, OF which these romnYkH
hlu people arc very fond. The XIycndI
ats h. of caiEraphy is at once extremely
aimpln and extremely cumbersome, and
consists Of p succession Of small circles, OF
letter os, with dots placed at different
POINTS Of the circle. As can easily he i'm
a=inad, this system Of cali&raphy is q sur
liccntiy awkward one, and until the eye
gets thoroughly accustomed TO the posi-
ti0n Of the dots, IT f. perfectly maddrning
t. read But rs the people Of Xu-ycndi are
not given to the writing of uovcls or oi
anything except business documents and
records of the briefcst character, it an
3W,r5 thUir purpose well enough.